2015-05-04

【Aiden in English】

        “Remembering is just an invention of the mind.” I, Max as big and slow, can never imagine not knowing the memories that had been inside this thick head of mine, and Freak as small and quick showed me the key to unlocking them all. Now, I can remember everything, including Freak’s tragic …… leaving. His … passing has torn a hole in this world, but his thoughts, feelings, and memories live on, because that’s what I know he would want me to do, and it’s the least I co- could do for such a great …… friend. No, more than that. Freak was physically handicapped with Morquio Syndrome, and I do not plan with him leaving the face of this earth, knowing that his …… our adventures go on unnoticed, unheard of, or forgotten as a firework once the explosion is over, because Freak is like that firework, and he will be remembered.

        To set this straight, I am not calling Freak “Kevin”, because to me, Kevin was just a stupid, no-brainer kid that was picked on. Freak is a - was a knight in shining armor, with nerdy stuff as a shield, combined with a quick wit and nerve and guts and jokes and, oh boy, I can go all day if I have to. He was like the … the … the brain for me, the fuel for a car, the Kryptonite for Superman. To be honest, Freak was just like Superman; although I’m pretty sure Freak would be blasted to, what’s the word, smithereens if he and Superman got into a fight. Anyway, the purpose I’m here for is to say how Freak’s all “sweet” and “cuddly”, right? But I’m not. I know Freak, and I know that he is more than just the fuzzily; nice boy who skips through the fields and lets people give him hugs and kisses. I know this because if you hug him, he’ll probably just hit you with his crutch, and don’t expect Freak to feel sorry for you. Just imagine, a kid of that size, talking trash to Blade, an alcoholic at the Fourth of July fireworks. That was the start of a real ……connection between us. Man, if Freak was here now, I probably lose a few teeth just from saying that. I saw how he rolled, the confidence in his voice, the steel of the words coming from his mouth, and the brain-power behind every syllable.  I mean, Blade was coming in for the kill right then. I could see the fire in his eyes, but Freak did something that I couldn’t do in a lifetime. Freak absolutely exploded, calling Blade a …c-…crep…cretin, whatever! I believe that it had something to do with a slow brain. I think, anyway. Jeez, I’m a butthead. Later that night, Freak directed me to the millpond. With his kind of mind, escaping from Blade’s gang seemed so orchestrated. That’s the word, right? Well, we surely led Blade running around in circles for a while. That was our first stand as Freak the Mighty, because Freak was my brain that night, no doubt about it. 

        Well, to be honest, before Freak moved into town, my so-called-brain was just an empty space in my thick skull where nothing happened. School, for an example, had become so much ……less lame. It still gives the head a real beating, but trust me, before Freak came, it was so torturous. Not to offend all those teachers out there. Like when he revealed the truth of reading. Oh, he would say, books are the truth serum- if you don’t read, you can’t figure out what’s real. Up until then, to me, reading was simply a waste of brain cells, not that I had any. But, like in most other point of views, Freak had a strong and convincing argument.  There wasn’t any way to say “no” to him. It’s like giving a child ice cream, unless you are lactose intolerant. If I were them, I’ll stick to a bag of chips or something. So, Freak convinced me to change my ways, even in sore subjects like school. But with his passing, Freak could not teach me more, yet he left a way of teaching others, preserving the precious moments we, as Freak the Mighty, had. He left a book before he died. That book was the last thing Freak gave to me, along with a gift, an opportunity to write. Once more, Freak was that guardian angel again. Scratch that, he was an armed escort of valiant knights. I take valiant means brave, right? 

        Anyhow, writing, as Freak and only Freak would put it, was just simply talking on paper. I guess you can all see the progress I have come from hearing me read this to you out loud. This was the one thing that he really wanted from me. Well, to be honest, Freak wanted a lot of things out of me, like learning quantum physics, for instance. The book he gave me was what Freak would call a “legacy”. All I know about “legacy” is that it sounds cool and that Freak is probably the only kid in eighth grade that uses it in his conversations. So, Freak wanted me to write in the empty book. I know right? That’s like asking a pig to sprout wings and fly. And breathe fire. But, since now remembering comes along easily, I just put all my thoughts, feelings, and memories into that pencil moved it across the paper, and letters just formed in front of my eyes. Yes, the trip down memory lane was painful at times, and tears sometimes came free, but I know that this is what Freak would ask of me. I’ll do anything to repay what he did to me, opening my eyes to a true world, and writing so little is hardly too much to ask for. And that leads me to my final point. Freak…… left way before his time, cutting it short. Yet in such a small period of time, Freak did some things that would’ve taken most people a life time. I believe he was the Einstein, the Newton, and the Galileo all combined into one, even, of the century. The possibilities were endless. So, it was at that moment when Freak died, that I realized. Life is more precious than some of us take it to be. It is a priceless treasure, and Freak used is time wisely. He soaked up every drop, every bit there was to absorb, and used it until the final seconds. Life was the most important thing to Freak, and to take the maximum reward, well, it takes real guts to do what Freak has done. It’s hard to believe a kid with such a small body could do something so big, but with the constant reminder of how much life is worth to Freak, I’m sure, with his kind of character and brains, he found a way how.

        Okay, keep it together, I’m almost finished here. Freak taught me a lot of things, and I could probably keep learning until my time is up, but because Freak knew about his time line’s end, and which he saw coming like a train with no emergency brakes, he was able to accomplish … so much. Now he’s gone, the only thing left of him is memories, and even they are fading away. But I will bare his loss, and keep whatever remains he has in … here (tap to temple), and here (tap to heart).

【紅霞譯文】

        “記憶不過是大腦的一項發明”，我—麥克斯即“傻大個”無法想象人的大腦會記憶全無，而弗里克即 “小天才”教我打開探索心靈深處的大門。如今我對一切記憶猶新，甚至包括有關弗里克的悲慘結局……離去，他的…過世令大家傷心難過，但其思想情感將永遠銘刻在記憶之中，因為我明白這樣才符合弗里克的遺願，起碼也是我為如此了不起的…朋友所盡微薄之力。不，絕非僅此而已。弗里克生來患有軟骨發育不良綜合症，因此我並沒打算跟他一塊冒險，因為我清楚他的……“我們的”計劃聽所未聽聞所未聞，甚至被遺忘，如同焰花爆竹一旦升空燃放即刻成為過去，但弗里克非同過眼煙雲，他將永垂不朽。

        坦率地說，我不想稱呼弗里克為“凱文” ，因為對我來說，凱文只是一位隨便叫的傻了吧嘰頭腦簡單的傢伙，而弗里克卻是、“曾是”一位金甲騎士，外表看起來呆裡呆氣，實際上機智靈活勇敢幽默；天哪，如果需要詳細介紹，我可以不分晝夜連續說個不停，他就像個…個…我的頭腦、汽車的燃料、超人的氪石，言而總之，弗里克真像超人，我敢肯定他准能騰空而去，一旦與超人交手，恐怕他倆勢均力敵難分勝負。我之所以美言幾句，無非希望表明弗里克可親可愛，對不對？其實未必完全如此，我了解弗里克，很難簡單地用好與壞來草下定論。他很和善，但並不習慣被別人摟摟抱抱；如果你執意要這麼做，他會毫不客氣地將你推開。試想一下，個頭不大的年方少年在七月四日獨立節觀賞焰火時與酒鬼刀鋒殺手嗆來嗆去，從那時起，我倆之間才開始真正……有了共同語言。嗨，要是弗里克得知我提及此事，非打掉我幾顆牙齒不可。我了解其為人處事，他一向談吐自信斬釘截鐵，說話正中要害，我指的是，刀鋒殺手趕來行刺的時候面帶怒火，頓時激起弗里克無比義恨，我一輩子都不敢有這股勇氣。弗里克按耐不住內心的憤怒，破口大罵刀鋒殺手是…什麼…白痴之類的東西！反正跟腦殘笨蛋沒啥區別，相比之下，我簡直太悚啦。當天晚上，弗里克要我到磨坊池塘，打算與刀鋒殺手同夥好生周旋一番。說得痛快，對嗎？沒錯，我倆《小天才與傻大個》讓他們手腳忙亂空兜圈子，搶先贏了第一回合，而弗里克堪稱我的智多星。

        論真格的，在弗里克搬進小城之前，我頭腦簡單四肢發達。舉例來說，我對學校生活或多……或少頗感無聊乏味，去課堂上課簡直活受罪，我絲毫沒有得罪所有老師的意思，老師光顧得強調讀書的重要性，哇塞，書籍是真理是養分，你不讀書就無法辨認是非曲直。在我看來，讀書浪費大腦細胞，我並非吹噓自己有過丁點智商，但從其它多數情況來講，弗里克表現得論點明確論據充足，什麼都難不倒他，就像給小孩子冰激凌吃人人喜愛，除非他無法消化乳糖；當然如果換成我，消受不了冰激凌，吃點薯條之類的垃圾食品也行。弗里克說服我改變學習方法，包括那些棘手的課程。他走了，不能再教我更多的東西，然而正因為他善於助人為樂，讓我倆這對“小天才與傻大個”共同度過了寶貴時光。他死前曾送給我一本書，這是他送的最後一個禮物，同時又為我創造了寫作機會，弗里克好像守護天使繼續照看我，不過從此以後，他還要作為威武騎士來保護我，這裡“威武”意指“勇敢”，恰當嗎？

        談及寫作，弗里克也只有弗里克才出口成章，連你都會意識到我閱讀的進步，是他成就了我寫作能力。說實在的，弗里克從我身上發掘出很多潛力，譬如學習量子物理學。弗里克送給我的那本書叫“傳奇”，他所說的“傳奇”聽起來真酷，大概八年級學生當中只有他一人聊這種話題。弗里克要我在空白書上寫東西，明白嗎？莫非叫豬身上長出翅膀飛上天不成，豈不異想天開；但如今我確實能揮筆讓思想情感緬懷統統躍然紙上，珠璣成行的字母一個個出現在眼前。回首走過的艱難歷程，禁不住叫我潸然淚下，沒有弗里克陪着一路走來，哪有我今天的收穫。我將放眼世界繼續努力，不辜負他的期待，儘管寫作對我來說困難重重。寫到這裡，我想說的就是，弗里克……沒能走完該走的路，年華易逝時光短暫，他做了許多人一輩子來不及完成的事情，集愛因斯坦、牛頓和伽利略之聰明才智於一身，其德才雙馨必將流芳百年。未來的可能性無窮無盡，早在弗里克臨終時我即認識到這一點，生命可謂無價之寶，弗里克活得精彩，並始終沉浸在陽光雨露之中，直到心臟停止了跳動。活着對弗里克來說至關重要，他想方設法讓每一天過得充實飽滿，殊不知需要付出多大勇氣，一位孱弱瘦小的少年竟然做出如此可歌可泣的豪邁事跡，令人難以置信。由此可以看來，弗里克嚮往美好生活的一貫願望，早已在他個性與思想上打下了深刻烙印。

        對了，要把上面所有內容集中起來，我差不多該停筆收工。弗里克教賜教給我的恩典，定叫我受用一輩子，因為他生前可能清楚自己的病情，所以才會像一列無法緊急剎閘的火車，盡其所能……多多益善。如今他遠離人間，身後留下的只有記憶，隨着時間的推移這些記憶會逐漸被淡忘，而我將緬懷這位哥們，即使他魂歸……天國，我的心與他同在。